


Cotton Candy

by missafairy



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Different Meeting, F/M, Fluff, No island, Sweet, lots of fluff, single parent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-13
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-08-14 22:07:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8030584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missafairy/pseuds/missafairy
Summary: Felicity and her 1 year old girl Abby go on vacation where they meet a handsome and funny cotton candy man who loves them both at the first sight :)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> HELLO my Sweethearts!!! <3 Chapter 1 of my new short SWEET fanfic is up :) I hope you’ll like it!!! The next chapter will be up soon hopefully :)
> 
> \- EDIT BY my new tumblr friends and a precious angel: @laurabelle2930 (tumblr)
> 
> \- EDITED BY an awesome beta and a wonderful tumblr friend:@youfixedmybrokenwings (tumblr)

FOR MY FRIEND Miriam :)

Felicity was laying on a soft blanket, her feet were digging in the warm sand, bright sun was shining in the crystal clear, blue sky. Her baby girl was safe and sound by her side, playing with a small, plastic car. She was mostly hitting the sand with it, or she was making small holes in the sand only to put her car there and bury it under sea shells. Felicity was watching her closely, from time to time pulling the toy out of her daughter’s mouth. Abby was a sweet child, she had just turned 1 a few months ago and Felicity loved her more than anything in her life. She was a chubby ray of sunshine, sometimes Felicity wondered how such a small person could take up so much space in her heart. Abby gave Felicity her toy and stood up clumsily. She took a few steps towards the sea, her small feet awkwardly trying to fight the weird feeling of stepping on the sand.

“Abby,” called Felicity and her daughter turned around. She was still within arms’ reach and Felicity held out a hand so the girl could hold on to it. The little girl was now standing so close to the sea that the waves could wet her feet and she was laughing at this feeling. “Come here, come to mommy.”

“Mama,” repeated Abby and swayed on her feet when the wave hit her. She grasped her mother’s finger tighter, trying not to fall down. She loved walking and running, but the sand was a new experience to her and she didn’t really know how to deal with the tricky ground she was stepping on.

“Yes, mama,” agreed Felicity with a smile. “Come to mama,” she said, but the girl only laughed, still standing in place. “Do you want to go into the water again?”

“Mama lalalalala,” sang Abby and swayed on her chubby feet again.

“I’ve just changed your clothes, we’ll bathe again tomorrow, okay Abby?” asked Felicity, knowing her daughter couldn’t give a meaningful response yet.

“Yeah,” said the girl laughing. She clapped her hands, letting go of her mom’s hand. Felicity was carefully watching to see if the girl came back to her or not. They were sitting right next to the sea, but it was a really nice place where the water was knee deep for Abigail for a very long distance. Felicity had to walk and walk into the endless sea to reach knee depth. She’d chosen this place on purpose, because it was safe for her little girl. Still, she liked it when she knew she could take her daughter’s hand all the time, just in case.

“Yeah little one, come here, mommy does’t want to change your clothes again,” Felicity playfully tickled Abby’s tummy. At this moment a wave hit the girl’s legs, Abby swayed on her feet and fell on her butt before Felicity could catch her. “Uh…” Felicity shook her head. “You’re a clumsy one, aren’t you?”

“You, you,” repeated Abby and laughed. She was sitting on the sand and the waves were wetting her diaper all the time, but she didn’t mind. She put her hands into the water as well, reaching for the sea shells. “Ba, lala mama,” she babbled.

“Well I can see you’re having fun, right?” Felicity smiled and straightened the hat that was sitting crooked on Abby’s head.

“No,” said the girl and immediately gripped her mom’s hand and pulled it towards her. She could hear when people asked questions and she knew she should answer ‘yeah’ or ‘no’.

“You want me to help you, okay. Ohhh, what color is that shell?” wondered Felicity and picked up a pure white shell that was shining blue and pink on the inside.

“Yeah,” answered Abby and laughed. She took the shell from her mom and tried to put it into her mouth.

“No, honey, no, no!” Felicity took the shell back and slid it into her pocket.

“Hhh, no!” Abigail clumsily got up and jumped in place.

“Honey,” corrected Felicity with a laugh.

“Hana,” repeated Abby and joined her mom in laughing.

“Yes, my sweet girl,” Felicity got up as well and folded the blanket they’d been sitting on for the past few hours. “We’re going to our room now, okay?”

“No, kay” Felicity’s daughter tried her best, she wanted to talk as much as her mom so she repeated anything she could. Felicity took the backback and gave her daughter a hand and then they started walking towards their hotel. They’d arrived only this morning, but Felicity already knew her way around the small town. The building wasn’t far from the beach, they only had to go along the sandy road and walk past a few booths, then turn left. The walk would take them about ten minutes, but Abby was stopping all the time to admire the stones and remains of seashells she found on the ground. After a few steps Felicity took the little girl in her arms, wincing at the cold water soaking through her clothing. Felicity talked to Abby as the girl played with her mom’s hair and earrings. She also managed to take her glasses off her nose a few times.

“Oh, little one, look, it’s cotton candy!” said Felicity when she saw a rainbow booth with cotton candy ahead of them. She loved this sweet, soft cloud of sugar and she knew she had to buy one. “Abby, Abby, look,” she said and pointed a finger at the colourful balloons attached to the booth. They were floating in the air, held only by thin, also colourful tapes. “Balloons!” Abby clapped her hands, clearly amused. “Say balloons.”

“Mama,“ said Abby and laughed.

“Oh wow,” whispered Felicity as she got a better look at the cotton candy booth. She saw the most handsome man that had ever walked on earth. And he was making her favourite sugar delight! “Abby, promise mommy that your hubby will look like this,” she murmured and stumbled a little on the road because her eyes were glued to HIM. The god of cotton candy.

“Hello,” said the beautiful cotton candy maker as Felicity with Abby in her arms walked up to the booth. “What can I get you?” he asked kindly.

“Hello, um… do you make mixed colours too?” asked Felicity and blushed seeing how the stranger was eyeing her up and down.

“Of course, all shades of the rainbow,” smiled the man, showing his perfect teeth and waited for his customer to say something.

“Oh, awesome! I’d like to have one cotton candy then…” Felicity reached into her pocket and pulled out some coins and the shell that she’d found on the beach. “Medium, half pink, half white, please,” she handed the man her coins.

“Pease!” said Abby with a smile and Felicity smiled at her.

“Please, not pease,” corrected her mother with a chuckle, but Abigail didn’t seem to notice.

“Pease!” she repeated and the cotton candy man smiled. Abby noticed the shell in her mom’s hand and reached her chubby hand to get it. “Eh,” said Abby and held the shell so the young man could see it.

“What do you have in there?” he asked and for a short moment he lifted his gaze from the cotton candy. “Wow, how weird, I’ve never seen a shell like this before,” he said when he saw the colors shining in the sun. “It’s very pretty,” he said looking at Abby with a kind smile. Felicity tried to take her eyes off him, but there was just something about him… Abby tried to put the seashell in her mouth.

“No, no, this nice man said it’s pretty, not tasty!” Felicity scolded her, hid the treasure in her pocket and smiled, looking straight into the big, blue eyes that belonged to her sweets god.

“Here you go,” heard Felicity and reached for her cotton candy.

“Thank you, goodbye,” she said with a wide smile. “Abby, say bye bye,” she asked.

“Bye, bye, Abby,” said the cotton candy maker, reached out a hand and waved his fingers, smiling at Felicity’s daughter.

“Dada” said the little girl and her hand shot out in front of her. Abigail held onto a plastic element of the booth refusing to let it go. “Dada,” she repeated. Felicity’s eyes were wide in shock, what did her daughter just say to this stranger?

“No, no, no dada!” she said, panic rising in her veins.

“Dada!”

“No, baby… I’m so sorry, I don’t know what happened to her,” she said looking at Oliver who didn’t really know what to do. He was just standing in his place, not knowing if he should let this woman handle the situation or maybe he should just take the child’s hands off his booth?

“No problem,“he said, holding back a chuckle. “It’s the first time I’ve been mistaken for someone’s father, I’m flattered…”

“Oh hell no, believe me…” whispered Felicity to herself. “I don’t even know how she knows this word! Did granny Donna teach you?” asked Felicity, but her little girl was too busy holding on the booth to say 'yeah’ or 'no’. Felicity didn’t want to pull too hard afraid something might happen to the booth. Oh, and Abby of course. “You know, my mother tried to talk me into this trick of some kind… Abby would call random men 'dad’ and that was supposed to help me in finding a future husband,” babbled Felicity, “but I said a big no to this sick idea, I’m not sure if anyone has ever said this word in her presence!”

“It’s okay, it really is…” started Oliver.

“Abby, let go!” said Felicity loudly and her daughter finally let go of the booth. “Oh finally!” Felicity immediately stepped away from the booth, too scared this embarassing situation might happen again. “I’m very sorry,” she squealed. She was blushing furiously, her forehead and palms were all sweaty. “I’m sorry, Mr… Mr…” Felicity started looking for a name tag, for any sign of this man’s first or last name, anything.

“Oliver,” said the cotton candy maker who was holding back a laugh. “And there’s nothing to be sorry for, I haven’t laughed this much in a while,” he confessed. “And what’s your name, Abby’s mom?”

“It’s… Felicity,” she said, still embarrassed to no end.

“A happy name,” said Oliver. “Well then, Felicity, come back here tomorrow, you’ll get a big cotton candy for free,” he offered. “No one was able to make me laugh in a while, you two deserve a special prize!”

“Okay, goodbye,” said Felicity, looking at her feet.

“Dada!”

“Shh, Abby!”

“Bye bye Abby!” said Oliver, still laughing.

“Dada!”

“Promise me you’ll be here tomorrow,” pleaded Oliver. He was looking at this beautiful, young, chatty woman and her funny daughter and this image warmed up his heart.

“We promise,” said Felicity, then she turned and started walking away. She didn’t know if she really meant it, but the guy seemed to be nice. “Huh, I guess we have to tell granny Donna that her 'daddy’ trick works…” she whispered to Abby as she walked towards their hotel.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO my Sweethearts!!! <3 Chapter 2 of my new short SWEET fanfic is up :) I hope you’ll like it!!! THANK YOU FOR THE MINDBLOWING RESPONSE!!! :))) I loved the kudos and bookmarks and comments, I appreciate them, they all make me happy!!! <3 
> 
> \- EDIT BY my new tumblr friends and a precious angel: @laurabelle2930
> 
> \- EDITED BY an awesome beta and a wonderful tumblr friend:@youfixedmybrokenwings
> 
> FOR MY FRIEND Miriam :)

Day 2:

Oliver’s life was pretty boring. He got up every morning and went to work, he tried not to think of his life too much because it always brought him down. He was set up on autopilot, his muscle memory doing everything without his control. He said ‘hello’, he smiled, his voice was always kind, even if some of the children were awfully rude. He liked being here, next to the beach more than in his sweetshop in his home town. It was relaxing here, the noise of the sea and people strangely calming. He mostly people-watched, he pretended to be able to read their minds. Every day from morning to evening he watched happy couples that were clearly enjoying their vacation, showing their affection every single minute. He was looking at couples with children, some were extremly happy, laughing and joking with their kids; some were just tired or angry, the child lost in its own world. There were mean old ladies who always found something to complain about; there were also happy old ladies who loved chatting to him, sometimes buying a balloon for their grandchild. Older men on vacation were making fun of everything around them, but some of them were like grumpy cats, happy only when they were left alone. He knew all kinds of teenagers - shy nerds, overly happy cheerleaders, the always sad, young people dressed in black clothes with headphones on…he wondered what kind his sister would’ve been… Every day looked exactly the same, people talked to him or not, people bought cotton candy or not, people complained that there were no red balloons left…or that there were only red balloons left.

Yesterday something strange had happened. A tiny, blonde woman showed up with a babbling child in her arms and turned his world upside down. Because he didn’t laugh. He just didn’t laugh at all, not sincerely at least. There was something so funny about them! He didn’t really know what. Okay, Abby hadn’t wanted to let go of his booth yelling ‘dada’, but it wasn’t the first amusing situation that had ever happened to him. He hoped he would see Felicity again. Her name was stuck in his head now and he marvelled at how beautiful it sounded. He spent all morning trying to spot her in the crowd, but all in vain. So he just waited and waited as the morning hours passed and that’s when he saw her. High ponytail, bright lipstick, glasses… Yes, it was Felicity, no doubt! Abby was in her arms today too and once they got closer he understood why. She was barefoot, Felicity was holding her daughter’s wet trainers in her hand and Abby was squeezing water off her socks and waving them in the air. He didn’t usually pay attention to his customers’ clothes, but yesterday Abby was wearing a white blouse and pink leggings - he remembered well because he thought she looked just like the cotton candy her mom ordered. Today Felicity’s little girl was wearing a pink dress, her now wet trainers and socks were also pink, as well as her hat. Oliver wondered if Felicity would order a pink cotton candy today. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but he thought it difficult not to compare her child to the candies and lollipops when she was dressed up like a walking sweet. Now when they walked up closer Oliver noticed tiny cupcakes on the baby’s hat. He didn’t even have to fake a smile when he noticed that Felicity’s dress matched the girl’s hat. Those two were impossible!

“Hey,” said Oliver instead of his usual 'hello’.

“Hi,” said Felicity and blushed. Now her cheeks matched the small material trainers she was holding in her hand. Oliver couldn’t help but notice how perfectly the riddiculous cupcake dress looked on her body. “I’d like to have one, medium cotton candy please,“ she said. “Pink this time.”

“I promised you a big one,” reminded her Oliver.

“My daughter wanted to steal your booth and you want to reward us?” wondered Felicity and smiled at the man.

“Us!” Abby reminded the adults of her presence by repeating after her mom. “Eh, balala,” she said looking at Oliver, and laughed when he nodded his head agreeing with her.

“Where are your shoes, Abby?” asked Oliver pouring pink sugar into the machine.  
“Ta, lalala me,” answered the little girl sweetly, and shyly hid her face in the crook of her mommy’s neck.

“Apparently it was raining last night, there are puddles on the streets,” started Felicity. “Abby wanted to jump into every single one of them,” she said and kissed Abby’s chubby cheek, making the girl giggle.

“Ah, I see,” said Oliver and kept making the cotton candy, adding more and more sugar.

“I don’t want to tell you how to do your job, but I think you should stop now,” noticed Felicity when the cotton candy started getting huge. “I mean I appreciate that you want to be kind and make the biggest cotton candy ever, but my teeth are going to fall out after I eat that,” she laughed. “Well maybe they won’t, but I’m just saying…”

“Okay, I’ll stop,” he smiled and handed Felicity the biggest pink cotton candy she had ever seen.

“Woo,” said Abby who turned her head away from Oliver and Felicity and was looking at a seagull that was jumping on the sand behind them.

“Look, Abby, look at this big cotton candy Mr. Oliver made for us!”

“Just Oliver,” he said, looking at Abby who was busy staring at the bird.

“Okay,” she smiled. “Hey, Abby, don’t you want to taste the sweet?” Felicity asked her daughter and Oliver looked at the way Abby turned around and her face and grabby hands landed in the cloud of sugar. Felicity tried to help the girl out of the sugar trap, thinking her daughter would cry, but she didn’t even get scared. When Abby finally took her head back she had her face covered in tiny pieces of pink sugar, as well as her hair and the front of the hat. She held her sticky hands in the air and finally put them into her mouth licking the remains of the cotton candy she’d collided with.

“Oops,” said Felicity awkwardly. “I’m really glad it was soft, otherwise she would have a bump on her head,” she giggled nervously and Oliver laughed at the sight of both of them - miserably embarrassed mother and her literally sweet child. “Not that I would know any of that, she’s never hit her head…um, at least not hard enough to have a bump,” she added quietly. Oliver could see the woman didn’t know what to do. She probably wanted to go already, but she probably thought it would be rude to accept a free cotton candy and not stay to talk.

“Mama, mama!” said Abby and tried to get away from the stickness of her fingers by wiping them in her mother’s ponytail that immediately got glued to her hands. “Eh, palalatam,” she babbled and Felicity’s eyes widened at the sight of her hair being sticky as well.

“Thank you so much for the…everything, but I think I should go and wash her… everything,” said the blonde woman and smiled awkwardly at Oliver. “Why do I say 'everything’ all the time?” Now it was Felicity’s turn to babble. “Thank you for the cotton candy that I’m going to eat right now, you should know that I love pink cotton candy and white too, and I know that all colours actually taste the same unless they are flavored and um… Well thank you,” she said, her face the colour of the sweet Oliver made. “Bye,” she smiled to him and wanted Abby to say 'bye’ too, but the girl opened her mouth and hid her face in the cotton candy. When she pulled back she had quite a big piece hanging from her mouth, and the rest of her face and the hat looked even worse than before.

“You’re welcome,” laughed Oliver and waved his hand goodbye. “Bye bye Abby,” he said and the girl clapped her hands happily.

“Dada!” she said and waved her chubby hand.

“See you around?” asked Oliver hopefully.

“Sure, you make the best cotton candy on the whole planet!” said Felicity with a smile and started walking away. Oliver looked as they were walking away, the cotton candy becoming smaller and smaller. He could still hear their giggles - Abby was kissing her mommy’s face with her sticky lips. For a second Oliver wondered how it was possible that these two incredible girls were on vacation alone, but the thought quickly left his mind when he realised how happy they were having only each other.

Day 3:

When Oliver woke up this morning he immediately got up. He didn’t waste any time with pointless lying in bed. Felicity had said he made the best cotton candy, right? She had to come back today too. Holding onto this thought he opened the booth near the beach, filled all kinds of balloons with helium, tied them to the booth and started looking for Felicity in the crowds going to the beach. He loved the vacation months when he didn’t have to work in the sweet making section of his own company. He loved his job, but somehow he liked this happy town next to the sea more. He liked the way he could look at the beach all day thinking of which spot to choose for his evening relaxation time. By the time he made it to the beach every night the place was almost empty. Not many tourists stayed there after sunset. Hours passed and he slowly started losing hope. He knew the day was not about to end anytime soon, but he was hoping Felicity and Abigail would be his first customers. Finally he saw them. Felicity was dressed in a long sundress, her hair in a high ponytail as usual. She was holding Abby’s hand as the little girl walked beside her. She was dressed in a pink hat, white blouse with pink stripes and dark pink shorts. Her pink sandals were covered in light pink flowers. For a second Oliver wondered what Abby would look like if she was a boy…

“Hello,” said Felicity and Oliver felt something weird in his stomach.

“Hella!” said Abby, lifting her head up to see Oliver. The sudden movement made her hat fall down and she funnily took her head in her hands. She let go of Felicity’s hand and made a few steps back stepping on her hat. When she finally saw it on the ground she tried to pull it from under her feet, but the hat remained in place. Abby tried lifting her feet up, but she swayed on her feet and landed on the ground on her butt. The diaper worked as an absorber so Abby didn’t really feel a thing. She picked up her hat from the ground and looked at it cruiosly. She started twisting it into her hands and finally put on her head again. Back to front.

“What can I do for you today?” he wondered, looking at Felicity now. “Cotton Candy… white and pink stripes?” he said, looking at Abby’s clothes. The girl was now clumsily getting up from the ground, the hat crooked on her head. Finally it fell down again leaving the girl in the same position as before. Abby wasn’t showing any signs of distress so Felicity decided to leave her that way. She knew her daughter was safe by her side and wouldn’t go away without her beloved hat that kept falling on the ground.

“How did you know?” she asked. She had no idea he thought she dressed Abby up like this on purpose.

“I’m good at guessing,” he said with a smile that could not be faked in any way. “Medium?”

“Yes!” laughed Felicity and handed him the coins.

“I can afford to give my two favourite customers free cotton candy, you know?” he said, looking into her big blue eyes behind the glasses.

“You’ll get fired for your extra kindness,” said Felicity and put the coins on the counter.

“I doubt that,” said Oliver and looked at Abby who looked up at her mom, making her cute hat fall again.

“Mama, tat, eee,” whined the girl and Felicity gave her a big piece of cotton candy to cheer her daughter up. Abby stared at the sweet in her hand as her mom leaned down to pick the hat up from the ground.

“Goodbye Oliver, see you tomorrow,” said Felicity and took Abby’s free hand in hers. Oliver waved to the girl and she waved back happily, letting go of the piece of the cotton candy her mom gave her. The soft sweet was thrown up in the air by the wind and flew away before Felicity could react. Abby looked at her empty hand, her expression shocked. “Oops,” said her mom and silently prayed for her daughter not to cry. Oliver chuckled and Abby quickly joined him, her soft laugh filled Felicity’s heart with joy.

“I swear I haven’t seen so much clumsiness in my life,” said Oliver and Felicity blushed, clearly embarrassed. “You made my day, girls,“ he confessed and smiled at Felicity. “See you tomorrow,” he said and she nodded. Somehow he knew she would be back tomorrow, it’s like they had a silent agreement. Oliver spent the rest of the day in a much calmer mood. In the evening when he was already closing the booth he saw Felicity and Abby again, both girls waved to him, Felicity’s long sundress was half wet, sticking to her legs, but she smiled widely as soon as she saw him. He watched as they were walking to their hotel, talking quietly. He could imagine Abby babbling nonsense as her mother babbled too, pretending to have a real conversation with Abby. That was when he realised what he had been missing out on in his life.

Day 4:

Oliver knew he thought too much about the past. He was well aware of that, not only because everyone told him so but because he had gone through something that changed him and changed the way he acted. He’d stopped laughing, found a routine that nothing could interfere with. It was easier for him to forget about the pain after his sister’s loss. And then one day Felicity showed up and changed his life again. She and her daughter made him laugh and made him start rethinking his life. He realised he wanted something more and that the life he was living wouldn’t lead him to it. Oliver knew it was just vacation and that she probably lived on the other side of the continent, but at least she became his light, a light that he knew could change everything. Her clumsiness amused him, the clumsiness of Abby amused him even more and their visible love for each other warmed up his frozen heart.

“Hi today,” said a cheerful voice that Oliver would recognise everywhere. Felicity came, just like she’d said.

“Taday,” repeated Abby and looked up at Oliver. She was holding her hat today, not wanting it to fall off.

“Hello today, Abby,” smiled Oliver.

“Abby!” laughed the girl and swirled in her white fairy dress.

“What did you say, Abby?” asked Felicity and kneeled next to the girl.

“Abby!”

“Oh my sweetie!” Felicity kissed her girl’s cheeks. “How did you do that, I’ve been trying to teach her for months!” laughed Felicity and looked at Oliver.

“She’s a smart girl,” responded Oliver, truly proud of himself. He knew he was going to eat a huge pink cotton candy this evening.

“She is,” admitted Felicity. “She’s going to get a balloon today, okay, Abby? Do you want a balloon?”

“Abby…” she sang and swirled again.

“One red balloon, please,” said Abby’s mom and Oliver quickly handed her a red balloon on a thin tape. “And a medium cotton candy.”

“What colour?”

“Surprise me,” said Felicity and gave her daughter the balloon. “Hold the tape Abby, okay?”

“No,” responded the girl, but squeezed the tape in her small hand.

“Don’t let it go, it’s your balloon” Felicity reminded her and Abby laughed happily. She was politely standing next to her mom holding her big, red balloon. She was watching the seagulls and quietly babbling her name. Felicity’s eyes landed on the tape in her girl’s hands. 'Queen’s Sweets’ was printed on the tape.

“Queen’s Sweets?” asked Felicity and looked at Oliver. “Do you work for them? They have a huge shop in the city I live in! They would have bankrupted if it wasn’t for me,” she laughed. “They have best sweets ever, I buy them all the time!”

“Best sweets ever, you say?” he wanted to make sure.

“Absolutely! Have you tried their chocolate lollipops? The ones with names on them? They never have my name on them, but they make them with Abby’s name on it so I buy those, outstandingly delicious,” babbled Felicity.

“Thank you,” smiled Oliver. “Come back in a month, we’ll have your name on the lollipops,” he assured her.

“Have you befriended your boss?” wondered Felicity.

“I am my boss,” Oliver handed her the white cotton candy with some pink on the top. “It’s funny that we haven’t met in Starling City where we both live, but two hours away from there,“ he laughed, but his brows furrowed in concern when he saw Felicity wasn’t smiling.

“You wouldn’t have bankrupted,” she said quickly. “You make great sweets and have lots of customers, on Mother’s Day I was standing in line all morning! And it is not a complaint…”

“All I took from this is that I make great sweets,” he told her. “Thank you, it means a lot.”

“You’re the sweets king, who would have thought?” she wondered.

“Queen, actually,” corrected Oliver. “My name is Oliver Queen.”

“So that’s where the name came from…” noticed Felicity.

“Flom, flom, Abby!” the little girl reminded them of herself when all the seagulls flew away and she had nothing to look at.

“Yes, Abby, do you want cotton candy?” asked Felicity and her daughter clapped her hands excitedly. The tape sneaked out of her grip and the balloon started floating up, carried by the wind. “Oops,” said Felicity and bit her lip. Abigail looked up at the balloon and her hat fell on the floor. She put her arm up and said something, but the balloon didn’t come back. “Hey baby girl, don’t worry, I’ll get you another one!” said Felicity, but Oliver had already walked up to them and kneeled next to Abby who looked like she wanted to cry. He tied the balloon tape loosely around Abby’s wrist.

“Abby, hey, look,” he said and showed her the balloon. “You won’t cry now, will you?”

“Yeah,” said the little girl, but laughed and shook her hand making the balloon move along with it.

“Thank you,” she said and put money on the counter. “Bye, Oliver!”

“You forgot your money,” he said pushing the coins away from him.

“You got me two balloons and a cotton candy, what would you have if not money?” she said, but seeing his eyes she took the coins back.

“You are coming back tomorrow, aren’t you?”

“We are,” told him Felicity. “You like our clumsiness, don’t you?”

“If that’s what you do during a ten minute talk I’m wondering what you do all day,” he laughed and Felicity joined him.

“You wouldn’t handle our daily clumsiness,” said Felicity, turned and started walking away. “See you tomorrow,” she said, turning her head back. Oliver watched as they walked to the hotel, just like he did yesterday and the day before. He didn’t like this part of the day. He didn’t like watching as they walked away.

Day 5:

Oliver knew he had to do it. No, he didn’t. But he wanted to do it. She was his window to change his life, to be finally happy again. She didn’t have anyone, or at least Oliver hoped she didn’t. She gave him too much hope, he didn’t even consider her having a boyfriend. On the first day she’d muttered something about Abby’s father and it wasn’t anything nice so Oliver connected all dots and convinced himself she was single. If not… Well, at least he’d have tried. Thea would have been so proud of him! He wasn’t caving anymore, he wanted to live, no matter if it could hurt him. He’d been hurt before, he could handle it. He had to stop being afraid of living. Oliver chose his best T-shirt, he even ironed it, something he had never done before. He tried being calm, but he was nervously lifting his head up all the time, looking for Felicity and her usually pink-from-head-to-toe daughter. When he finally saw them he barely could hold in a chuckle. Abby was carried by her mom, dressed in pink everything, only her trainers were white with pink shoelaces, matching her mother’s trainers. Abigail’s face was red from crying, the remains of tears on her chubby cheeks. She was holding a plastic box, eating sliced apples from it. He would have been worried, but Felicity was talking to her daughter cheerfully, a bright smile on her fuchsia lips.

“Hello, Oliver,” she said before he could say a word.

“Hello,” he responded with a smile and turned the cotton candy maker on. “Medium, pink with white bottom?” asked Oliver, watching for Felicity’s reaction. Pink hat, pink blouse, pink leggings, white shoes.

“Yeah, you’re so good at guessing!” she told him and looked at the balloons. There were no red ones left today. “And a green balloon, please,” she added, looking at her daughter. She wiped the girl’s wet cheeks with her fingers and straightened her crooked hat. “Abby, honey, you’ll get a balloon, okay?”

“Yeah,” said Abby and started chewing on her apple slice.

“Where’s the happy Abby?” asked Oliver, looking at the girl.

“Yeah,” whined Felicity’s daughter and looked at Oliver with her big, watery eyes.  
“I might have accidently sat on our sand castle…” confessed Felicity. “We built a nice one with shells and seaweed and then we started playing with a ball,” she started. “And then Abby threw the ball… well, not to me and I wanted to catch it and that’s how I ended up sitting on our sand castle,” explained the blonde and made a sad face. “But don’t worry honey, we’ll build another sand castle tomorrow, right?” Abby didn’t respond, she was too busy looking at Oliver who was making the cotton candy.

“Will you still be here tomorrow?” asked Oliver, looking nervously at Felicity.

“Yes, it’ll be our last day here, we leave in the afternoon the day after tomorrow,“ she said and took the cotton candy from him. “Thank you,” she said.

“Eh, heh, blalala mama fenk you,” said Abby, who started feeling a little happier. She smiled at Oliver and started babbling to him. Oliver untangled the green balloon and tied it loosely around Abby’s hand. The girl laughed and looked at Oliver again, her eyes weren’t sad anymore.

“I was wondering,” started Oliver, “if you’re doing anything tomorrow?” he asked, his hands shaking. He hadn’t been so nervous in years! What if he misunderstood the situation? “Something… I mean if you’re busy? Because I wanted to ask if you would like to go out with me tomorrow.” He saw that Felicity was holding a breath, her eyes were wide.

“Are you married?” she blurted out and Oliver’s brows furrowed.

“No?” he answered, confusion evident on his face.

“Okay, then I’d love to go out with you,” she said with a wide smile. “But I’ll have to bring Abby with me,” she reminded him.

“No problem, she’s a lovely young lady,” said Oliver and looked at Abigail who was looking at the cotton candy maker. “What are you eating, Abby? Apples?” Hearing him Abby wanted to show him her box with fruit and she accidently dropped all of her apple slices into the machine. She looked at the empty box in her hands and then threw it into the machine as well.

“Abby!” Felicity stepped away from the booth and looked at Oliver, her expression worried. He’d just asked her out and Abby had gone and shown her great clumsiness again. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”

“It’s fine, don’t worry,” answered immediately Oliver and took all of the apple slices out of the device.

“I’m really sorry, I should have paid more attention…”

“Don’t worry, it’s all good,” assured her Oliver “Just maybe step back, it was quite an expensive booth and she seems to be in a destructive mood today,” he said with a chuckle. Felicity immediately stepped back, nodding her head.

“Yes, of course, she didn’t mean to destroy anything, I promise!” Felicity tried to explain and save her chance for a nice date with Oliver.

“Oh, Abby, your mommy is a worrier, isn’t she?” Oliver asked Felicity’s daughter, who was diving into the fluffy sugary sweet.

“Mama lofs Abby,” said Abby and both adults looked at her, clearly surprised.

“What did you say my sweet girl?” asked Felicity, kissing her daughter’s cheek.

“No,” responded Abigail and tried to catch the cotton candy using her mouth only, hands as far from the sticky sweet as possible.

“She said 'mama loves Abby’!” marvelled Felicity.

“I heard,” agreed Oliver and smiled. “She’s such a smart girl!”

“I know!” Felicity kissed her daughter again. “Where would you like to meet tomorrow?” she asked, looking at Oliver. “If you still want to meet, that is…”

“Of course I want to! Do you think a pack of sliced apples can scare me?” he joked and Felicity let out a breath of relief. “Maybe here? We could go to the beach and then to eat something?” offered Oliver.

“It’s a great idea, what time do you close the booth?”

“I don’t feel like opening it tomorrow so maybe…noon? How does that sound?” he asked and looked at Abby, who resembled a cotton candy monster now. She hadn’t eaten a lot, to be fair she always ate just a little bit of the cotton candy he made, but she looked like she’d taken a bath in pure cotton candy. She apparently didn’t mind, she was politely playing with her mom’s earrings and babbling quietly.

“Sounds great,” said Felicity and smiled nervously. “See you tomorrow?”

“See you tomorrow,” said Oliver and said 'hello’ to the next customer. He was beyond happy today. He knew Felicity was just an accidentally met girl, and that he never relly talked to her, but he felt something between them, a connection of some sort. He left the booth open almost until midnight, knowing he wouldn’t be able to sleep. This small town was never asleep during the vacation season, and lots of adults stopped by to buy a cotton candy. Oliver couldn’t see the sea in the darkness of the night, but he could hear the waves that were hitting the shore with much more force than during the day. Finally he had to close the booth and go to his room to impatiently wait for the meeting with Felicity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!!! I LOVE YOUR COMMENTS AND THOUGHTS, keep sendng them :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!!! <3 Chapter 3 of Cotton Candy is up :) I hope you’ll like it!!! THANK YOU FOR THE MINDBLOWING RESPONSE!!! thanks for kudos and bookmarks!!! :))) I loved your comments, I appreciate them, they all make me happy!!! <3 Unfortunately this is the last chapter, so I want to double thank you for reading, commenting and supporting and staying around for the whole story :) 
> 
> \- EDIT BY my new tumblr friends and a precious angel: @laurabelle2930
> 
> \- EDITED BY an awesome beta and a wonderful tumblr friend: @youfixedmybrokenwings

“Stop spinning, Abby, mama wants to get you dressed,” laughed Felicity as her daughter started running around the room babbling something loudly.

“Mama lofs Abby,” she said and kept running around. Felicity finally caught her daughter and carried her to the bed.

“Yes, mama loves Abby and mama wants to get Abby dressed,” explained Felicity and put a blouse over Abby’s head. “See? This is a flower and this is a cat,” she said pointing at the printed patterns on Abby’s blouse. “Say ‘flower’,” asked Felicity. “Please say ‘flower’ for mommy.”

“Mama lofs Abby!” squealed Abigail and span around.

“Wait for your pretty fairy skirt,” pleaded Felicity and when Abby was finally dressed they both stood in front of the mirror. “Do you think we look pretty?”

“No,” answered the girl and clapped her hands.

“No? You should say 'yes’! Say 'yes’ baby girl,” said Felicity and quickly brushed her long blonde curls. She didn’t want to pull them up in a ponytail today.

“Yeah,” Abby said as she was asked and spinned around, her fairy skirt making her look like a ballerina. Felicity didn’t know if she should go out with Oliver today. She’d considered having a boyfriend in the future, she was still young after all, but she had to think of Abby. She wanted her daughter to grow up with a father, but on the other hand she couldn’t be sure if the first man she met would stay with them forever and she couldn’t let Abby get hurt. Maybe she was thinking too much, maybe Oliver just wanted to show them around the town? Or make sure they saw all of the interesting places? Maybe it wasn’t even a date? Frankly, she’d never asked him if it was.

“Okay Abigail Smoak, today we will not be clumsy,” she said out loud. “We can’t let him think we’re clumsy people.” Abby looked at her mom, walked up to the table and took her bottle of juice that Felicity hadn’t put into the bag yet.

“Tink, tink,” she said and shook the bottle.

“Drink, drink, yes, you can drink baby girl,” Felicity packed a few necessary things and looked at the clock. “We should get going.” She placed the hat on Abby’s head to protect her from the sun and opened the door. She took Abby’s free hand and they started walking down the stairs. When they were half way down Abby dropped her bottle and let it fall down the stairs, hitting each of the steps. Felicity was used to all kinds of these things, yesterday she was the one to drop the bottle, but today everything was supposed to be different. “Try to contain your clumsiness, sweetheart,” she said and leaned down to reach the bottle.

“Tink, tink, mama!” said Abby and Felicity gave her the bottle back. They were walking slowly, getting closer and closer to the meeting place. Felicity was trying to spot Oliver among the crowd and when she finally saw him on a bench she let out a breath of relief. She straightened her red dress and made sure her hair wasn’t covering her face.

“Hello ladies,” said Oliver with a wide smile on his lips and walked up to them. Felicity noticed he had two pink flowers in his hand and she couldn’t help but smile at the sight. “I brought you a flower, Abby,” he said and handed one of the flowers to Abby, who took it and then pointed a finger at her blouse where a few flowers were printed. “Yes, there are flowers too!”

“Thank you, Oliver,” said Felicity with a smile and hid Abby’s bottle in the beach bag.

“I’ve got a flower for you too,” said Oliver and gave Felicity another pink flower. “I’m sorry, I should have thought of something better, but I’ve been a little nervous and I just reminded myself of it five minutes ago,” he admitted. “It’s been a while since I was on a date.”

“That makes two of us,” Felicity chuckled nervously. “I really like the flowers,” said Felicity and picked Abby up, worried that the girl may try to eat her flower. In her arms Abigail was in constant supervision.

“So, I live in Starling City and make sweets in my shop and you live in Starling and…” Oliver paused, looking at her expectantly.

“And I buy the sweets,” Felicity smiled. “I work in a small company as the cyber security expert,” she told him.

“Impressive,” Oliver helped her with placing the blanket on the sand. Suddenly he had no idea what to talk about, Felicity apparently had the same problem.

“Ah dan, tamtam lala,” babbled Abby and started crawling towards the sea, Felicity right behind her. She picked her daughter up and walked a little further into the sea. Abby started giggling when cool water hit her feet. “Amamamam…”

“That’s enough for now Abby,” announced Felicity after a bit and carried the girl back to the blanket. She placed her in the middle and pulled her toys out of their beach bag. Then Felicity sat next to Oliver and smiled at him.

“Do you come here every summer?” she asked and furrowed her brows when Oliver chuckled. “What?”

“You… uh, nevermind, yes I come here every summer since a few years back…”

“I what?” repeated Felicity, looking at him with caution.

“You sat on the flowers,” Oliver told her and tried to hold back another chuckle. Never in his life had he met someone as clumsy as Felicity and her daughter. Felicity’s eyes opened wide and she immediately pulled two flowers from under her butt. Her cheeks were bright red, embarrassment visible on her face. That was the end of her special, not clumsy day.

“I’m sorry,” she said honestly. “I forgot I put them there,” she tried to explain. “I sit on things accidently, one time I sat on my glasses and they broke in half… I had to get new ones made.” She tried to straighten the flowers somehow, but she knew it was pointless. “Sorry, I really liked the flowers,” she said quietly and adverted her eyes from him, looking at Abby.

“There’s something about you, Felicity…” said Oliver and she looked back at him. He was smiling, not a trace of anger or disappointment in his eyes. “I think your clumsiness is something I already got used to,” he confessed and laughed.

“We’re probably the most clumsy people you’ve ever seen,” noticed Felicity and joined him in laughing. Their laughter gained Abby’s attention and the girl crawled to her mom, sat on her lap and started laughing too.

“That’s what makes you special,” Oliver told her.

“Is that your way of saying you don’t always hang out with single moms on vacation?”

“You are the first single mom I’ve ever hung out with,” admitted Oliver. “And I have to say that I like hanging out with you even though you make me feel a little nervous.” His confession made Felicity smile.

“Same…” she said and straightened Abby’s crooked hat. “Not that you’re a single mom,” she added quickly, “but I like hanging out with you even though you make me feel a little nervous. Why is that?”

“Maybe because we don’t know where it leads to?” suggested Oliver. “I think that you’re looking for a serious relationship, because you have a child, but if you aren't… Well if you’re not then it’s fine…”

“I am, actually,” Felicity hugged Abby tighter and watched as the girl put her toy in her mouth. “I hope for a serious relationship to give Abby the feeling of stability. I know it’s difficult to find someone that Abby won’t scare away, but I don’t think it’s impossible,” she whispered.

“Well, she doesn’t scare me away,” said Oliver. “I have no clue about kids, but she seems lovely.”

“Yeah, children are lovely when you don’t have to change their diapers, stay awake all night, clean up after they eat…” laughed Felicity and kissed Abby’s head. “No, she’s still lovely even if she makes me do all of the not nice things.“

"So um… Is Abby’s father…” Oliver wanted to know whether he was getting himself into some crazy family drama.

“Not in the picture,” said Felicity quickly and Oliver nodded.

“You know, I know a nice a restaurant in Starling, they have big aquariums in it so Abby wouldn’t be bored…if you’d want to go to dinner with me,” offered Oliver, drawing in the sand.

“Sure!”

“Sue!” repeated Abby and clapped her hands. She put her toy on Oliver’s lap and waited for him to pick it up. When he did she laughed and reached to the beach bag for something else. She pulled out her drink bottle, her plastic car and a rubber duck.

“Tink tink,” she said and gave Oliver her bottle. “Lalalapam,” she babbled while handling him the car and then without a word she gave him the last toy. Oliver didn’t know what to do with all of this so he just smiled at Abby and winked at her.

“She likes you,” said Felicity and watched as Abby took her bottle, said 'tink tink’ and accidently spilled some of it on herself and her mom. “Great job, Abby!”

“She’s sweet, now I know why you always dress her up like a cotton candy,” laughed Oliver and Felicity’s brows lifted in confusion.

“Excuse me?” she wondered, looking at him expectantly.

“Um…you always dress her up in pink and white clothes and you always eat pink and white cotton candy…”

“Oh frack!” yelled Felicity and immediately covered her mouth with her hand. Abby didn’t seem to hear anything though. “Now when I think of it your cotton candy ideas were inspired by my daughter’s clothing!” she laughed and looked at Abigail. Her little sweetheart was dressed in pink everything again.

“I didn’t mean to…” Oliver tried to explain. “But how many pink clothes can a girl have?” A wrinkle appeared on Felicity’s forehead and the woman started laughing.

“You know…” started Felicity and laughed again. “You know that people usually wash only clothes of the same colour at the same time?” she asked, still laughing.

“Yes…”

“So I washed the white and the pink ones and then the washing machine broke,” chuckled Felicity. “I’m so sorry…” she said and kept laughing like her life depended on it.

“And I thought I’d solved some kind of a mystery…” whined Oliver and laughed too. It was so easy to laugh with her.

“I’m sorry,” said Felicity wiping the tears from under her eyes. “I’m sorry, I usually don’t laugh uncontrollably,” she confessed.

“I like the way you laugh,” said Oliver and helped Abby stand up from the blanket. Her chubby legs still made her feel insecure on the sandy ground.

“Eh!” said Felicity’s daughter and pointed her finger at the sea. She didn’t like staying put for too long.

“I think we’re done sitting for today,” sighed Felicity and caught Abby before the girl could take a step towards the sea alone. “Do you wanna jump a little, Abby?”

“Mama lofs Abby,” said the girl and took her mother’s hand. They both went slowly a few steps into the sea. A minute later Oliver appeared at their side, took Abigail’s free hand and the adults let the girl jump through the waves with their help. Abby laughed all the time, Felicity and Oliver talked about their lives back in Starling City, about their families, the crazy college times, and the time passed, hour by hour without them noticing. Finally it became too hot for Abby to jump and the girl became tired so Felicity took her in her arms and all three of them started walking along the seashore. Abby fell asleep quickly, Oliver straightening her hat that was about to fall down every once in a while when Felicity’s daughter moved in her sleep.

“Thank you for today,” said Felicity when they stood in front of the hotel. It was already dark, the starts were shining on the crystal clear night sky, the air still warm, only a little breeze differing the night from the day.

“No, thank you!” Oliver was holding a now awake Abby’s hand. “I haven’t had so much fun in ages!” he confessed and smiled at Felicity who seemed to look even more beautiful than a second ago. “It’s a shame I didn’t ask you out on your first day here.”

“I thought about that too,” admitted Felicity. Never in her life had she believed in love at first sight, but tonight she felt like a Disney princess. “But we will have plenty of time in Starling, right?” she asked.

“Of course we will, call me tomorrow when you’re safe at home,” he pleaded.

“I will,” responded Felicity and caught herself staring at him. “Um… so yes, thank you again, Abby likes you a lot, I can tell.” She picked Abby up in her arms and the girl let go of Oliver’s hand. “Say 'bye bye’ Abby.”

“Dada!” giggled Abby and waved her hand at Oliver.

“You know what…” Oliver furrowed his brows. “I think we might have misunderstood her the first day,” he said.

“It has just crossed my mind,” whispered Felicity. “She didn’t call you 'dada’, she said 'bye’!” she said and Oliver chuckled.

“Still adorable,” he told her and waved to Abby who had just yawned widely.

“I knew she didn’t know that word!” yelled Felicity with a laugh. “I’m so glad I haven’t called my mom to yell at her,” she added quietly.

“Do what you want, but you can’t say her crazy idea doesn’t work,” said Oliver and looked at both girls with a smile. “Bye, bye Abby.”

“Dada!” responded Abigail and placed her sleepy head on her mother’s shoulder.

“Is it too awkward to kiss right now?” asked Felicity before she could stop herself. Her face was too close to Oliver’s face, she could smell his cologne, she could feel his breath.

“A bit awkward, yes,” admitted Oliver, but he didn’t step back. He was just looking her straight in the eyes, not caring about anything else. After a long while he moved closer, felt Felicity’s free hand pulling at his shirt. For a brief moment their lips met, as soon as they did both Oliver and Felicity pulled away looking at Abby, who now had her eyes closed, to their relief. Seeing her peacefully asleep they kissed again, for a liitle longer now, but the kiss was just as soft as the first one. “Promise me you’ll call,” said Oliver quietly and Felicity immediately nodded.

“Promise,” she whispered, unsure of her voice. “You’ll call too, right?”

“Right,” he assured her. “Goodnight now, sleep tight,” said Oliver and opened the hotel door for Felicity and Abby.

“Goodnight, see you in Starling?”

“As soon as I’m back there, September 1st!” he confirmed and smiled at them again.

“I’ll be waiting,” smiled Felicity and stepped into the elevator. She said it a little bit too loud and made Abby whine and open her eyes.

“Dada!” she shouted waving her hand. Oliver’s and Felicity’s eyes met one last time before the door closed.

Day 1095:

And they lived happily ever after :)

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!!! I LOVE YOUR MESSAGES AND THOUGHTS :)

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you liked it (pretty please:))


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